Bloodlines
by Kimitsuzue
Summary: The Great Revelation forces Klaus to leave Mystic Falls and put his hybrid agenda on hold in search of answers. Upon his return, Caroline is reported missing during a suspicious rise in vampire hate crimes. A surprising network of individuals find themselves in Bon Temps, Louisiana, where rumors are beginning to run rampant. Chaos and death give rise to some unexpected romances.


Disclaimer: The original characters and pre-existing plot on which this story is based on is property of their respective authors, L.J. Smith and Charlaine Harris. I do not own or take credit for any part of _The Vampire Diaries_ or the _Southern Vampire Mysteries_ (also referred to as the Sookie Stackhouse novels or its TV adaptation, _True Blood_). No copyright infringement is intended.

Let's get this story rolling! It's been a couple years since I published a new story so I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon. I've been really excited to bring the characters together and play with the idea of multiple origins for supernatural creatures. I'm planning to cover multiple relationships that will hopefully keep you guessing, too~

You've probably noticed the lack of an established pairing, which turns many people away... but I think it'd be interesting to add an element of surprise. And just because the premise might make you believe this'll be a Klause/Caroline fanfiction, you've got another thing coming. ;)

* * *

**Bloodlines**

**Chapter 01: The Great Revelation**

He called as soon as they made the announcement...vampires gone public.

Stefan, Damon, and Elena were all gathered around the TV with their eyes plastered to the screen. Everyone's phone was buzzing, but only one call really mattered in the midst of all the craziness. Stefan's phone let out a lazy stream of notes, Klaus' name lighting up the screen.

"I take it you've heard this morning's news, Stefan?" The man sounded like he wanted to ask about the weather, but they all knew he was seething. He, among all vampires, knew the importance of keeping their secret locked away from humans.

"You sound oddly calm about this," Stefan observed. He perched himself on the arm of the couch and his eyes were distant, trying to sift through the implications of the phone call.

A deep chuckle resounded through the speakers. "Stefan, I'll have you know that I'd much rather have whoever's responsible caught, tortured, and dropped at the bottom of a vervain ocean right this instant. The problem is... I need to _find_ them first."

Elena reached for the phone. "If you're so eager to find them, why come to us?"

Another chuckle. "Impatience, Miss Gilbert," his voice crackled through the phone. "I'm in need of sources... or rather, one particular source. You know her quite well, if memory serves. I'm looking for Katerina Petrova."

"Wait, you think _Katherine_ did this?"

"Katherine? Hardly," he spat. It sounded like he cursed her very name as it rolled from his tongue. "I need answers, and she might have them."

Everyone fought to stifle a heavy sigh.

Looking for Katherine right off the bat? He was pulling at threads.

Damon, being dramatic as ever, let out a low whistle. "If Katherine doesn't want to be found...well, I'm sure you remember how that song goes." Damon reckoned that if there was anything that the men of Katherine's past could ever agree on, it was that she usually got what she wanted and didn't care about who got stepped on along the way.

Klaus let out an aggravated sigh. "Point taken. I'll just have to take matters into my own hands, then. Protect my beloved doppelgänger in the meantime, boys. Don't do anything stupid."

With that, the line went dead.

0.0.0.

A year later and everything was different. Not evolved, just _different_.

True Blood filled the shelves of every grocery store, bar and vending machine across the United States. People were paranoid, the streets were emptier than ever before. No amount of law enforcement could ensure a person's safety with vampires on the prowl. Rumors claimed that silver could subdue a vampire, but most found out that the rumors were false and paid for it with their lives.

It would have been easy to run through the towns and announce that vervain was their true weakness. The Salvatore brothers managed to keep a steady supply growing in their own home, in fact... but it wasn't possible. It would put everyone in danger. If it became common knowledge that vervain could subdue a vampire, there was no telling what would happen.

Vampire hate-crimes were already on a dangerous rise. Humans celebrated it, while vampires remained indifferent to their own kind. Stefan, Damon, and Caroline were able to fly under the radar thanks to their daylight rings, and Elena liked to believe it was enough to keep them all safe. Secrets were hard to keep in Mystic Falls, though. No one could buy a six-pack of True Blood and stay hidden for long, and the blood banks had long since buffed up their security since the Great Revelation.

Stefan managed on animal blood, Damon settled for willing donors, but Caroline had it the worst. It wasn't just a matter of taste, either. She insisted on finishing high school and damn well deserved that part of her human life... but the town came to appreciate the presence of vampires less and less as the days went on.

It was only a matter of time before they figured her out.

0.0.0.

Elena strode into the Mystic Grill, the heels of her leather boots tapping against the hardwood floor. Matt was placing a bottle of beer in front of a man just a few stools over. She sat herself at the bar and giggled to herself. "Bartender?"

He turned at the sound of her voice and his lips curved upward into an amused smile. Soft music was playing in the background. "We don't serve drinks to minors," he joked.

"Not even a coke?" She smiled deviously. Without Klaus, everyone was able to relax in the year of his absence. It took some time to lose the paranoia, but they'd all settled back into a comfortable rhythm for the most part. It was nice—it really was. They all knew better than anyone else how valuable it was to have peace of mind... and they knew they had to cherish it.

Giving a low chuckle, Matt filled a glass with coke and set it on a napkin in front of her. He'd been uneasy about her coming in at night since the late crowd had certainly taken a new, and very pronounced taste for black, red, and leather. Most of them were wannabe fangbangers, but it was still a dangerous scene to waltz in on. They usually flocked to vampire bars, but the timid ones would slink around places like the Grill to make their fabulous debut among their fellow humans.

Street trash.

They were all just looking for a quick fuck to satisfy their curiosity or for a high roller to pay the month's rent. Elena wasn't one to judge, but she'd been with the real thing and knew better than to fall into their game of danger and mystique. It all seemed like a big hoax and a middle-finger to humans and their pop-culture, in her eyes.

Elena sipped at her coke and swiveled in the stool to take in the entire scene at the Mystic Grill. Same crowd as always. Last time, it was a scrawny guy in a silk robe partying it up with an eager young man. Tonight, it was a cocoa-skinned woman in a skimpy outfit pulling a man into the ladies room, sparing a second to give Elena a nasty look when they accidentally locked eyes. Couples were writhing around in the booths without shame to complete the picture.

It was clear that everyone had sex on the brain. Sex, sex, sex.

"Elena." Matt popped open another can of soda.

"Hm?" She snapped out of her reverie and turned back towards him. "What's up?" She forced a smile, pushing the woman's nasty glare into the back of her head.

Matt poured her another round and indicated the man sitting a few stools down. His face twisted in discomfort. "That guy over there," he motioned with a nod of his head. "He ordered you another drink—alcoholic," he informed.

She glanced in his direction and saw a bald, slightly burly man with pale skin and tattoos of all sorts. He gave her a dirty smile and took a swig of his beer. He looked too old to be hitting on her, and if his cocky attitude were any indication he was likely to be a vampire, too.

Matt started drying another glass, keeping himself busy so that he could continue talking to her while his supervisor restocked the shelf of True Blood. She grimaced. _Yuck._ Synthetic or real, the idea of drinking blood wasn't easy to get comfortable with.

"I told him you were underage, but he tried to throw me some cash under the table to bribe mel," he scoffed. "I bet he just wants you drunk and easy," he muttered.

Her eyebrow arched in amusement at the words tumbling from her ex's mouth, but her expression quickly turned sour when she noticed him approaching. He set his drink down and took a seat, giving Matt a look that told him it was time to buzz off.

"Name's Liam; what's yours?" He smelled of alcohol and didn't score creativity points for his pick-up line, either. His hand rested at the top of her thigh.

She swatted his hand away, and the burly man acknowledged her action with a quick downward glance. He brushed it off and stared her down. Elena matched his gaze and pushed the glass of coke in Liam's direction, leaving a trail of water across the bar. Matt was probably so miffed that he forgot the second napkin. Oops.

"Sorry, but I can't accept this. I have a boyfriend."

Things were messy with Stefan, and Damon wasn't making things any easier on anyone. She'd spent the last week trying not to dwell on it—on them. After going into full ripper mode, Stefan was still trying to recover emotionally. He was back to normal for the most part, but he didn't trust himself anymore.

It was hard for her to trust someone who couldn't even trust themselves.

"Boyfriend? Wouldn't you rather be with a vampire, little miss?" His voice was low and his face was so close she could see the pores on his undead flesh.

Feeling feisty, Elena yanked her bag off the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. "My boyfriend _is_ a vampire—and I bet he's older than you, too." A threat as subtle as a bag of rocks—perfect. Whoever this guy was, she wanted him gone.

She spun around to leave, but his hand shot out and jolted her to a stop, mid-step. Worried brown eyes met angry blue, and Matt, who was standing a few feet away, had his entire body all tensed up and ready to intervene. Swallowing hard, she reluctantly sat back down in an attempt to keep things civil for the bartender's sake.

His angry glare slid back into a leer and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I bet your vampire boyfriend doesn't pay you two-thousand in _cash_ for sex. I pay niiiice," he drawled.

"I'm not a whore," Her tone was venomous. It was clear then, that she was done being civi. Her anger outweighed her sense of control and she'd put up with enough scum in the past year that enough was _enough_.

Her slender hands wrapped around the glass bottle on the counter, turning it over to let the cold liquid spill over his bald head and into his lap. He trembled with rage, and she was sure he'd have turned red if he weren't dead.

"Bitch!" His large hands came at her in a powerful blur. The heavy wooden stools toppled over and the glass bottle was no more. Matt shouted and everyone in the Grill was staring.

Suddenly, Liam sputtered and his eyes bulged; the veins around his temples rose angrily to the surface and he inhaled sharply.

A dark hand rested on Elena's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Hands off. I think it's time for you to go." Bonnie was focused on the angry vampire, he was starting to make gurgling noises and his fingers looked like they were digging into his pale skin. Everyone was staring and murmuring about the impromptu battle.

With a yell of anger and something akin to an animalistic roar of pain, he managed to get on his feet and immediately blurred out of the bar.

Bonnie dropped her spell and threw her purse on the bar, giving a giant sigh of exasperation. "Elena, you have to be more careful," she scolded. "The law can't keep vampires under control," she muttered more to herself than anyone. She slammed her hand on the bar and shook her head. "A year gone by and monsters like _him_ are still running rampant. They can't be allowed to come in and do whatever they please," Bonnie hissed. Most of the vampires could hear her, but none of them seemed to care much. They'd already gone back to their human toys for the night.

Matt nodded in agreement, finally able to relax with Liam gone.

Mustering a tiny smile, Elena thanked Bonnie and righted the bar stools. She'd lost her temped more than once in the past, but the vampires who hung out it the Grill didn't often tempt fate. The secret council wasn't so much of a secret anymore—they'd become somewhat like an elite force of vampire slayers. At least, in comparison to the clumsy police squads that still struggled to handle the creatures of the night.

Elena was done for the night. She gathered her belongings and sighed, "I'll see you guys around. Thanks again, Bonnie... what I'd do without you," she mused aloud.

Bonnie smiled and watched her friend disappear through the door.

Elena fumbled with her key, turning it sideways, flipping it upside down—twisting it against the keyhole to try and get the damn thing to find its way in. She brushed her index finger along one side and found the ridges, then squinted to see the orientation of the keyhole and finally jammed the scrap of metal where it belonged.

She unlocked her vehicle and the locks retreated with a heavy, satisfying, click. It was the only sound in the lot, until the rattle of metal echoed from the dumpsters and garbage cans along the side of the Grill.

Paranoid, Elena ripped her keys out and grabbed at the handle, but when she pulled on the door it wouldn't budge. Looking at her hand gripping the door handle, her brown eyes trailed upward along the car's frame.

A large, pale hand was pressing against the window—thick fingers leaving prints on the glass as they lifted away and found her shoulder. She heard a man snigger as she was shoved to the ground. Her purse tumbled off her arm, its contents spilling everywhere. Cold, hard, asphalt scraped against the palms of her hands and bits of rock dug into her skin. She lifted her head and followed the dark shadow looming over her and found its owner—Liam, as expected.

"You like to play rough, yeah?" He snarled and lifted her by the collar of her white jacket. "I like to save it for the bedroom, but you..." He jabbed a finger at me and laughed without humor. "...you're just asking for a beating," he snorted.

Liam shook her for good measure and she flinched in response. He caught her gaze and gave a short laugh. "You're not going to scream, or struggle... you're going to pick up your stuff and come follow me. You like that idea, don't you sweetheart?"

Realizing that he was using compulsion, she nodded mindlessly and repeated back to him. He smiled at his handiwork and lowered her onto her feet with a grunt of satisfaction. With her heart racing, Elena moved to grab her purse and packed everything slowly as she tried to bide for time, observing his movements for an opening. Each time she put an item back, her hand searched for the wooden stake she kept in her purse as a precaution.

Compact, cell phone, wallet... there! Now!

With his back finally turned to her, she whipped the stake out of her purse and rushed him. The sharp point pierced through the skin of his right shoulder, and blood began to flow in thick globs as he howled in pain and crumpled to his knees. His left hand was reaching weakly for the stake as he continued to cry out.

Elena snatched her keys from the ground and swung her door open. She jumped into the driver seat and slammed it shut. Hearing the engine roar to life, she glanced at the side-view mirror and saw his angry face as he stumbled towards her.

Sweat trickled along her temples. She threw the car into reverse, and his body struck the car with a loud thump! Feeling a little relieved, she breathed deeply before gunning it out of the lot. Her car screeched out onto the main road. Alaric would have been damn proud.

Despite her original intentions to go home, though, she'd found herself back on the Salvatore property.

0.0.0.

The next day wasn't any better. Sheriff Forbes called Damon late into the afternoon trying to sound calm and official, but she could hardly keep up the act when everyone confirmed that her daughter hadn't made contact with anyone in the last forty-eight hours.

Caroline was missing—kidnapped, or killed. Her mother had started worrying as soon as she'd realized her daughter hadn't shown up for a meeting for the Miss Mystic pageant. Anyone who knew Caroline Forbes knew that she would never miss it unless she were dead. Undead didn't really count... and things weren't looking good.

Prior to her disappearance, concern had been raised about the increase in vampire hate-crimes. They were reaching a level that couldn't be ignored. If it were up to them, the police would be hunting instead of defending... but since it was law, they had to suck it up and follow orders.

It was hard to believe how cold or uncaring people could be after all the news reports. Vampires were turning up dead in every way imaginable—staked, burnt to ashes, decapitated and torn limb from limb. The list went on, and the longer Caroline remained missing, the more likely she was to turn up dead—_permanently._

_Knock, knock, knock!_

She'd been pacing around the Salvatore living room, and the knock jarred her out of her mess of thoughts. Damon was off on another escapade of sorts, but he would have just walked in unannounced. Stefan was out hunting, but she expected him back soon.

She strode over to the front door and rested her hand on the knob as she debated whether to open it or not. Whenever someone arrived at the Salvatore home, it tended to be bad news. She pulled the door open.

What was one more bad thing on top of everything else?

"Hello, love," he'd knocked like a perfect gentleman but smiled like a deviant. He gave her an expectant gaze while he clasped his hands behind his back.

A series of light footfalls called to her attention. Stefan had probably entered through the backdoor. "Klaus," Stefan acknowledged from behind me. "Long time no see," he said unenthusiastically.

It suddenly occurred to her that Klaus was really back in Mystic Falls. After an entire year, he was back with the smug look plastered on his face and standing at their doorstep once again. According to Elijah, Klaus had yearned for his hybrid army for centuries... why would any of that change? Elena felt her heart throbbing in her chest, the air felt like it was getting thinner.

Klaus had returned.

Sensing that they had no intention of inviting him in, he dropped the act and got to the point. "The Authority," he started grimly, "that's what the secret vampire government is being called these days." He looked amused and smug at the same time. "Supposedly, their one and only true goal is for vampires to mainstream and be accepted as equals among humans," he scoffed.

Stefan carried on the conversation, but it was all passing Elena by as her thoughts began jumbling together. Klaus was back and Caroline was missing. Where the hell was she? Vampires in Mystic Falls were going missing and dying—_really_ dying.

They'd hoped that the whole Great Revelation fiasco would distract Klaus from his hybrid madness, and it did. They knew he loved his secrecy, so vampires going public just didn't seem to fit his personal agenda. He went off looking for answers, and now he was back. Since he wasn't flying off the handle about taking her away from Mystic Falls and making an army of hybrids yet, what did he want?

What did he _know_?

Snapping back into reality, Elena looked up at Klaus—it was hard to follow the conversation with her brain practically short-circuiting. It wasn't like her, it wasn't like her at all. She'd never been so scattered in her life, but suddenly she was being hit by all sorts of impulses.

When she checked back into reality she noticed that Klaus was staring at her, silently. Stefan's hand came down on her shoulder and he squeezed as if urging her to speak.

"Something the matter, Miss Gilbert? You look rather... distracted." He looked curious, with a hint of suspicion glinting in his eyes.

Stefan looked at Klaus and then back Elena—he could tell that she wasn't following their conversation in the least. "She's a little distracted," he confirmed, trying to draw the attention away from her. "We haven't heard a word from Caroline for awhile now and her mother said she missed a meeting for the upcoming pageant."

Nodding in agreement, Elena shifted and observed Klaus as he absorbed the information. He looked unfazed at first, and then he seemed to understand the implications. Her disappearance wasn't something to be taken lightly. Not everyone reacted well to vampires—hell, there were still plenty of people out there who didn't react well to same-sex couples.

Even with daylight rings, it was hard to go completely incognito.

"Any leads, then?"

Elena was surprised by the words that came out of his mouth, but at the same time, it wasn't entirely surprising. Stefan had mentioned once or twice that Klaus had some sort of fascination or infatuation—whichever it was, with Caroline. Something about the way he treated her was different, and they'd all picked up on it sooner or later.

Tyler was probably in some small degree of denial about it, wherever he was.

Caroline was devastated when he hadn't called her even after the Great Revelation. She said she left messages every day until his inbox was full, and even then, she called some more. She insisted that he probably kept the voicemails to hear her voice and forgot that he had to erase some to make room... but one day, the automated message reported that the line was no longer in service. She was heartbroken, but remained stubborn in a small corner of her mind.

"No leads," Stefan replied quietly. He took the hint that Klaus wasn't his usual self. "Damon thinks it's a hate crime. Vampires are going missing and turning up dead every day since the Great Revelation—he acts like it's no big deal, but she's still fairly new as a vampire. Three years at most, maybe."

Klaus gave a slow nod and steeled his expression. "Rebekah will fill you in about the Authority, expect her later this evening." His gaze was on the concrete for a moment, and he shifted where he stood. "In the meantime, I'll see what I can do."

As detached as those words could have sounded, Klaus made it sound like a promise.

Elena met Klaus' gaze, acknowledging his words in silence. When it came to Klaus and all of his cruelties—he was still hurting and alone. To feel pain, experience betrayal, endure sadness, and sometimes in a crooked way—to love, meant he wasn't just a monster.

If he cared about anything other than himself... it was Caroline Forbes.

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Oh man-finally revamped chapter one with a third person perspective and I'm still having mixed feelings about it. I love the depth of thought and personality that I can get out of first person, but it always makes me feel like it's too tightly focused. :(

Please let me know what you think of the edit if you've read the first incarnation! Chapter 2 is on the way! :)


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